The Tholian Lynchpin
by Austin.Imaginativ3
Summary: Created for ULC: 23, Prompt 'Tholia'


Tholian Space, Inner Ring System - Diplomatic Embassy/Station Waypoint

To say the Tholians were reclusive was quite true, but they could also be very generous to their debtors. Former Inmate 91856 of Facilty 4028, was quite happy to finally be returned to his people, and Hazel appeared to be on the receiving end of the Tholian's hospitality. After contracting from the Lobi Crystal Consortium for a Tholian vessel, worth a tidy sum, the Starfleet Corps of Engineers would be quite happy to dissect-slash-study the ship and its Tholian technology afterwards. Of course being a Ferengi business, the ship ended up being a _Meshweaver_ -class, stripped of all but its basic weaponry and minimal ship functions. While not exactly an ideal trade, the Corps had fun fixing it back up to Tholian standards, making it easily able to switch between habitability for Tholians and for regular Starfleet conditions.

Now Hazel was transporting the former inmate, a Tholian called Hrvikene, who was busy inputting information into a data packet for use by Starfleet science division, with details encompassing a basic translation algorithm capable of making it easier to translate the Tholian language. This was to be a part of the deal the Tholian's had made, in exchange for releasing Hrvikene into their care. Tholian space was quite deadly to outsiders without permission or reason, but of course with approval by the Tholian Ambassador and the fact they currently had a Tholian onboard, it gave them both permission and a reason to traverse their heavily patrolled borders. After an hour of regulated flight adhering to a strict flight plan, the ship was now docked with a Tholian checkpoint located within the Inner-Ring of the Assembly's outer territories, orbiting a Y-Class planet, which doubled as an entry point to the Embassy for outside races.

Of course it wasn't their stop, and preparations were made to leave, though it appeared changes had been made by someone on station as their destination was, once again, updated and affirmed.

/ _Class-M Planet, Uncharted System_ /

 _One Hour Later_

The ship warped into the next system designated as their final approach vector. "There doesn't appear to be any ships in range, Captain," a Bolian officer at helm says, "The designated route said there would be another station, but nothing is showing up on sensors, except odd energy readings coming off the surface of the planet." Suddenly the ship turns to yellow alert, as sensor warnings activate, revealing something warping into the system. "Captain, a Tholian Tarantula has warped into system and is hailing us and requesting to see our orders," a Bolian officer says, "Putting on screen and transmitting manifesto of our orders." The fierce orange carapace of the Tholian captain is showed onscreen.

"-crickzzztz-ou have entered restricted space and we have taken it as provided evidence of false documentation of harboring a Tholian warrior, prepare to release your ship and crew to the Tholian Assembly, or resist and prepare to be disabled and taken for manual labor -shrzzt-" the Tholian translator already showing itself useful, as it had translated most of what the captain had said, "Respond within five cycles or prepare to be destroyed." The Tholian ship then powers its weapons up.

"Captain, I am unaware why you think we are in restricted space, or not transporting Tholian to Station X-RNT-9, but we have permission by thee Tholian Ambassador," Hazari tries to reason, jumping to the ships communicators, "Your operative, a commander Hrvikene, had been found adrift and brought to DSK-7 for help, when he was caught siphoning power while downloading sensitive data and trying to hack encrypted Federation files aboard the station; the Tholian Station we have just come from, had updated our orders suggesting this place as the drop off point for mister Hrvikene."

"... " the Tholian is merely silent for a moment, before turning off screen for a moment, and returning its gaze to the panel, "This appears to be true from our own records, but the course change was a mistake," the Tholian responds, "The station reports say your ship was unresponsive to their hails, and communications had been bounced back due to signal interference from heavy subspace traffic communications -tzzkt-." The Tholian ship seems to power down its weapons and shields, before the Tholian commander turns their attention back to the view screen. "I apologize for the miscommunication, we believe your ship must have picked up -tzrrkt- orders from the station meant to go to cargo ship, heading for this area," the Tholian says, "Lower your -skkt- shields, we will transfer the operative to our ship, and-" Suddenly a ship appears out of cloak, covered in black plating, yet clearly a _Galaxy X_ -class starship.

"Helm, extend shields to the Tholian ship, target that ships weapons systems with a torpedo spread!" Hazel orders, as the two ships are fired upon by the unknown vessel, "Then open a gravity well at the odd ships position, then transfer shield strength to the Tholian ship, I don't think it could take another hit from that lance." The Tholians, obviously realizing that this invading ship was not aligned with the people trying to return the Tholian prisoner, quickly began to spin a web to trap the enemy ship.

"Enemy ship's lancing weapon has been disabled, but only for a short time, it seems the ship has internal nanites," the a tactical officer says on the bridge, "I suggest we try and disable their engines, sir, then send a signal for their need to surrender."

"Agreed, but for now let's try and avoid anymore hits, their weapons seem to be on a modulating frequency and chroniton based," Hazel says, "While their system appears to be outwardly a _Galaxy X_ -class, I can't believe our own people, let alone someone like Drake or _Section 31_ , would sabotage our own mission." The ship rocks, and Hazel tries to steady herself at her own console. "Anyone bother to check out that odd energy source from below, before these guys showed up?" she asks, gripping her console at another hit, "How are we at disabling their weapons?" At that the Tholian ship is shown onscreen, launching the web around the enemy ship.

"Appears the Tholian's have them contained for now, sir, but haven't fully disabled all of their systems yet," a Romulan science officer reports, "I was beginning to decipher the signal when the Tholians showed up, but haven't come up with a clear source beyond a hundred meter scanning range." At that the Tholians hail the ship.

"Why have your people attacked us?" the Tholian Commander asks, "This ship matches records to some belonging to your Federation, caught attacking our outposts two months ago, the _U.S.S. Heisenberg_."

"Captain, sensors indicate a large buildup of energy coming from the surface, it appears to be a heavy dose of chronitons and tetryon particles, and it's heading straight for us!" Suddenly the ship is bathed in light, before cutting to darkness.

\\\\\ _Elsewhere_ \\\\\

The soft light of red alert status, bathed the ships bridge in a glow, with the screeching sound of the alarm klaxon ringing in the ears of all who were conscious enough to hear them. A figure, all in combat equipment, and a squad of three security officers in _EV_ -Suits quickly bust open the door of the alien ship. The main officer removes their helmet, letting the dark curls fall out of their confinement, as she decides to get a closer look at the orange-haired woman currently slumped at the bottom of the alien console. She angrily jabs at her communication implant, and contacts her superiors on her own ship.

"I thought this was a Tholian vessel?" she questions, pausing as the other person replies "Then why is their currently a Romulan, a Bolian and two Human Starfleet officers, knocked out under my feet?" Pausing again, she nods in confirmation, before motioning to the three men to set up the transport enhancers. "Roger, sir, I've got my men setting them up, though we may need to send one or two to the Doc to get patched up," she says, concern lacing her voice, "Yes sir, I'll send the Romulan to the brig after he gets checked out, and I'll have Doc put up security fields until we check them out." At that the downed crewmen are bathed in light, and are transported to the other ship.

\\\\\ _Unknown Sickbay_ \\\\\

Hazel steadily awakens with a pounding headache, and is unable to open her right eye, either due to a medical compress or the fact her eye is probably swollen from hitting the console in the blast. "Don't move miss, it'll be much easier to get you fixed up that way," a soothing voice says from somewhere above her, "Almost done relieving the swelling, then you can open your eyes." Feeling the weight lift off her eye, the strange medical device is replaced to a table containing equally unidentifiable devices. Hazel opens her eyes to see the Doctor, who is apparently a Xindi-Primate. "My name is Halktor, Chief Medical Officer aboard the _Archimedes_ , and you Miss, are quite the genetic mystery," he says, "I've notified my Captain that your awake, as I have others to attend to." As he is walking away, Hazel sits up and tries to get off of the bed, only to be stung by a force field.

"Sorry about that, my name is Tolroth Gazra, Captain of the _Archimedes_ " Man's voice says, as she looks toward the approaching Orion dressed in an odd Starfleet uniform, "Verity told me that you had a Romulan among you, I had Halktor set up containment fields until we debriefed you; it's not often we find a friendly face in the middle of Tholian space, let alone finding enemies among our allies." Hazel is thoroughly confused for a moment, before she realizes the vein of design behind the Orion's uniform.

"Tell me, what century is it for you?" she asks cautiously, "Your uniform seems like it is familiar to me, but it can't be that century..." The Orion raises his eyebrow, with a look of mirth on his face, lips turned to a smile.

"It's the mid-26th century of course, June 21st 2531, to be precise, what other century could it be?" he replies, "You must have been imprisoned in Tholian space for a while, if you don't even know what year it is..." At that Hazari's eyes widened at the Orion captain's words. "I mean, you must have been imprisoned, if you managed to escape to that system in the _Meshweaver_ we found you in; quite valiant to escape the Tholians as you did, even with that Romulan as a hindrance," he says chuckling, "I mean, I know Starfleet doesn't leave anyone behind, but usually our enemies don't really count."

"Tell me Mr. Tolroth, have you ever heard of the Hobus system, Mol'Rihan, of the Heralds, or M'Tara or T'Ket," she says, "Have you ever heard of the Solanae sphere, or of the Bluegills, the Cooperative, or even the Undine?" The Orion was puzzled, before he begins to think this over.

"Sorry, I recognize the Hobus system, but it's part of the Romulan Territories for a few centuries now, hasn't it?" he replies, "I don't know any 'Heralds' or who M'Tara or T'ket is supposed to be... the only 'sphere' I know of is the Jenolan Dyson sphere, and the others I do not recognize at all." He gets up and grabs a PADD, typing on it, before handing it to Hazel. "Here, the history of our timeline up to the past two centuries, I'll give this to you to compare your own experiences," he says, disabling the force field and handing the PADD to her, before reactivating it, "But, in exchange, perhaps you can tell me where the _Heisenberg_ has disappeared to, it was a research vessel sent out here to study the 'Builder' Key we found on a planet in this system, and you just happened to appear where they disappeared from."

" _Badir_ , what kind of 'research' vessel has a spinal lance in its arsenal?" she asks incredulously, "That was a _Galaxy X_ , meant for war, not scientific overkill!" At tha tshe turns her attention to the bad, and freezes, noticing a medical overview of her vitals and genetic makeup.

"Yes, well, Augmentation is still highly illegal, especially when you come across a Tholian vessel, carrying Federation and Empire citizens alike, outside Federation borders," he replies, "Which means either you have something to do with our ships disappearance, or you happen to be the worst spies ever sent to infiltrate our government, and the Federation doesn't take kindly to such obvious tactics by the Empire." He moves closer to the force field and stares her in the eyes. "So tell me, why should I believe you're not a spy sent to capture the 'Builder' key out of Federation hands," he says, "I mean, you have an interesting cover story posing as time travelers, the Tholian ship helps, but obviously you have a Romulan handler, a female one no less, posing as a lieutenant, I mean, you couldn't even get the uniforms right." At that the force field goes down, and Hazel launches herself at the Orion, slapping him hard across the face, before standing still and fiercely staring him down.

"Don't you dare talk about my crew like that, y-you- you misogynistic, xenophobic, short-sighted _Badir!_ " she shouts at the taller man, who is merely smiling as he rubs the area she had slapped him in, "You don't know those people, my people, or what we've gone through and had to sacrifice in our timeline, we almost died when we were attacked by the _Heisenberg_ , your 'research' ship, before we were bombarded with Chronitons and Tetryons from your allies on the surface!"

"Wait!" he suddenly shouts, "Did your ship happen to pick up scans showing the _Hesienberg_ trying to rotate their chroniton weaponries energy field?" AT that Hazari blanches in her anger.

"Whuh- what does that have to do with anything?" she demands, "Lieutenant Suran had been scanning the energy field on the planet we had found ourselves above, but currently you seem to distrust Romulans, so I don't know-" She trails off, realizing the Orion had turned away from her and was currently talking through his combadge.

"-yes, the Romulan, bring her to astrometrics, drag her out of the group in Ten Forward if you have to, and have her show you the different frequencies she had been checking when studying the energy field, and see if the ships combat log can identify the _Hesienberg_ 's energy modulations," he says, turning back to the Hazel, "Her Captain will probably be satisfied now, just make sure you help their Engineering crew finish the repairs to their ship." Smirking, he chuckles at her confusion. "Don't worry, your boy Hendricks told us all this earlier, I was just waiting for you to wake up to confirm your story," he says, "It's not often we get visitors from parallel universe, or at least ones we know about, mostly because Subspace is such a mess in our universe; temporal anomalies don't really form well because of the Omega destabilization."

"I'm sorry, can you repeat that?" she says, her eyes widening at the possibility of Omega level destruction, "You're telling me there is a wide scale Omega destabilization, and the Federation still exists?" The Orion merely sweats a little at this, before directing her out of the medical bay and towards the nearest hallway window, which appeared to have been sealed shut with blast plating.

"It's probably easier to just show you, but fair warning, the Galaxy has changed a lot since your time," he says inputting a code into the nearest console, "Truth be told, I was ordered to keep the decks sealed to limit temporal violations, but I think our realities are different enough to warrant your exposure." The deck plating is removed, revealing a vast expanse of surging energies within a chaotic nebula of blooming, violent light. "This is on Omega distortion 47, one of several peppering both the Alpha and Beta Quadrants, created around the same time I believe you would call the late 24th to early 25th century," he continues, "It was a war started centuries ago, by who at the time we believed were the Romulans, who had developed and detonated a series of Omega devices throughout the various quadrants, it would turn out not to be the case, as the _Enterprise_ , our version, would discover one year ago on the remains of the planet Dewa III, where they discovered the last of the Iconian Gateways; except they weren't alone." He closes the blast doors and motions for Hazel to follow him, and leads her to a turbolift.

"What did they find?" she asks, as they enter the turbolift, "Who, or what, did they come across?" The turbolift stops, and Hazel finds they have reached the bridge, before being directed into his ready room. He directs her to an empty chair, and sits across at his own.

"What they found was a half destroyed Iconian Gateway, butchered and added onto with Borg technology, and fully functioning," he says, "And, apparently, a hidden Tal Shiar base holding the remains of long dead agents within, killed by Thalaron radiation dating back over a hundred or so years." Hazari starts to connect the dots, if her own realities Tal Shiar and interactions with Hakeev were any indication of what had transpired in this dimension.

"So, they somehow blew up the Iconian Gateway network, after killing off their agents so as to cover it up?" she replies, "Perhaps the reason there wasn't a Hobus incident, was because your realities version of Hakeev used this knowledge to try and take down the Iconians, and he ended up making everyone pay for his mistakes."

"Yes, that seems likely, though I'm afraid I don't have much of a clue as to who this 'Hakeev' is, or if he had a double in our universe that did this," Tolroth replies, "Though it didn't stop there as along with the gateway, there appeared to be what we now are calling a 'Builder' interface, a machine that allowed a piece of subspace to exist in normal space, a 'bubble' of alternate reality, if you will." At this he activates a hologram, which shows a large and intricate machine. "And this is a Key, a device which taps into geothermal power, much like the Iconian Gate on Dewa III and the interface, but on a much larger scale, and projects a tear in reality," he continues, activating the hologram simulation, showing exactly what it would do, "I believe the _Heisenberg_ stumbled onto one of these devices in their expedition, they found themselves in your world, and upon trying to return, your ship got caught in the beam they were attempting to use to bring themselves back."

"My ship got caught in a rift between realities and stranded here?" she asks, "My ship got cascaded in chronitons and tetryons! We shouldn't even be alive right now from such a deadly dose!"

"Well, yes, except we happened to stumble upon your group and managed to fix you up and vent the excess radiation from the ship," Tolroth replies, "Thankfully most of your ship had good shielding in place when you got swept into the tear, so most of the rest of your crew just needed to be inoculated, your bridge was the hardest hit though, which is why we brought you here." Suddenly the ship goes to red alert, and both captains go to the Bridge, Hazel standing to the side. "What's going on?" he demands, "Status report Mr. Smith!"

"Captain, detecting energy fluctuations in the Key below sir, we hadn't even started beginning trying to modulate our chroniton weapons, when the energy field began to activate," the science officer says, "The build up just seems to keep growing, if it does we may be seeing a massive explosion that will rip subspace open, it may even react with the Omega field if it extends outward a few light years."

"Any suggestions on how we stop it from creating a massive subspace distortion?" he asks his crew, no one speaks up.

"Were you interacting with the anomaly before we arrived here?" Hazel asks from the side, "Maybe it's not a Key, what if it's a Lock that needs to be opened from both sides?" Tolroth looks to his science officer, who begins to interact with her console.

"43% chance that could work, sir, if not at least vent some of the tetryon build up we've been sensing, but there is a problem," the officer reports, "Tetryon build up is already beginning to affect real space, its causing an ion storm and creating spatial distortions that will make it impossible for anything larger than a shuttle to navigate into range to utilize the 'Lock'" Tolroth merely looks to the planet on screen, as storm clouds seem to have built up on the planet's surface.

"We need someone to go down there and through the ion storm," Tolroth says, "Do we have a shuttle ready, I'll have Verity go-"

"No, your ship is needed here, Captain, this is your universe, you can't sacrifice any of your crew to the radiation, especially if they end up in Tholian space and aren't one of my crew or have my codes," Hazel says, "You said I was inoculated, correct?" He nods in response. "Send me down there in one of your shuttles, at best I'll just end up back in my universe, at worst we all die," she says, "If it works, send my crew back through the rift, and they can pick me back up on the other side, and everyone returns to their proper realities, just make sure the Lock is secured afterwards, we don't want anything to happen after everything is set right." Nodding, Tolroth quickly contacts his shuttle bay.

"Tolroth to shuttle bay one, prep the _Cambridge_ for launch with a chroniton payload," he orders, "Miss Hazari will be taking planet side, prepare it for launch."

"The _Cambridge_ , sir, isn't it a little old-?" the person in the bay responds.

"That's an order lieutenant commander, just prep the shuttle, or we'll all be stranded," he orders. Hazari is already in the turbolift and quickly descending.

\\\\\ _Cambridge_

The _Cambridge_ was a long-range shuttle, based on the 23rd century design, yet kept current for use by the crew on planet side missions. Hazel was quite familiar with the design, and she could only imagine what circuitry was hiding underneath her consoles. It had done its job, and she had narrowly missed hitting one of the subspace anomalies popping up, and had avoided being struck by a stray bolt from the ion storm.

She was impressed by the size of the 'Builder' lock, whoever had built it had size in mind, as it was about half the size of the Jouret Gateway, but had the energy output to match the output of such a gate. The buildup was visible even from the atmosphere, and it was no wonder such a technological marvel had drawn an ion storm upon it, it seemed to be sparking from damage caused by tectonic shifts over an unknown period of time.

Readying her weapon and modulating the energy field, she began to position herself above the pillar of technology. Stray energy bolts were starting to hit her shields, beginning to affect the shuttles more normal systems like life support, and she only hoped a stray tetryon field wouldn't cross her path and disable her ship totally. Once she was at the correct energy signature, she releases a bolt from the weapons array, and hopes it releases the build up properly. As if answering her silent prayers, the machine stops sparking, as orange light begins to draw up from the planet to the tip of the pillar, shooting a beam out and into space, to safely open the rift. She could see it above her, as she had angled the shuttle to watch the night sky rip open in orange light. Then the column of light fully engulfed her view, and the shuttle floor began to glow an unearthly orange. She had been caught in the field, her shuttle was too close, but she at least got to stay awake long enough to know her crew had a chance at going home.

She was happy, even if she was probably not going to miraculously escape. No Q intervention, no Prophets or Pah-wraiths, no Aegis, or errant time travelers whisking her away. No, Hazel- Hazari Tis-Singh, wasn't going to survive this. She was glad Charley had left to go to the Aegis before he had to watch her die. At least she died happy.

\\\\\ _Elsewhen, 23rd Century_ \\\\\

"Tell me, Miss Smith, how do you feel today?" the man in medical whites, asks the blonde woman sitting on the couch, a relic replicated to give the illusion of a psychiatrists lounge, "Have you had anymore of the nightmares, or any new clues as to your identity?" The blonde merely looks over to the Doctor, before sitting up and folding her hands.

"My name, Doctor, is Hazel, and I would like you to address me as such," she responds, "I may not remember the rest of my life, but I remember that much."

"Yes, well, that's fine, Miss Hazel, but I believe you are trying to deflect the question again," he says taking off his glasses to clean a lens, "I ask again, tell me, have you had anymore nightmares?"

"No, sir, I haven't had anymore dreams about the specters, or about the vampires, or the metal men, or even about the burning sky and the lightning storm," she replies, "Can you just tell me when you'll let me out, let me see the sunlight beyond the windows?" She slumps down into her chair, before playing with an errant strand of hair.

"Now, Hazel, you know you are still suffering from radiation poisoning, we don't quite know what kind, or even what it could do if you were still dangerous for others to be around," he replies, "Now, I'll leave the next set of computational models for you to dissect, I'll even get you the model engineering section you asked for by next week, but you have to break down the models and tell us how we could improve them." She turns to lay on her stomach and looks toward the doctor from over the edge of the couch.

"But it's boring, you've had me take apart twenty three different computer models, dissect three different scientific algorithms you gave me, and helped you find a cure for Thorellian Hives by telling you about the medicinal properties of the Hagran flower," she responds, "And you won't even let me see the sunshine, or even the stars and the moon; maybe I don't want to be stuck in here for months on end, maybe I want to go and surf the stars and fly the ships you've had me put together!" Taking a pillow and rolling into it, she fumes as the doctor merely pats her on the head.

"Soon, Hazel, perhaps I can convince the Academy to let you take a quick-track course, and they can decide if your ready to be placed on a starship or not," he replies, "Perhaps you may even become a first officer, or even a captain of your own ship, one day." Getting up and taking his notes, that he had been writing while discussing the world with the girl, he takes his leave and removes himself form the sterile, white room. Walking over to the observational window, he stands next to the woman dressed in sleek black. "What do you think, Director, she's getting antsy, she may remember more if we aren't careful," he says, "Her brain works twice as fast as ours, whose to say eventually it won't put together that something is off, and that she isn't who or what we say she is..."

"That day will come, I am assured," the woman responds, "But let's throw her a bone, she does deserve it, after all she has helped us advance some of our understanding of certain principles by some degree." Quickly she lifts up a PADD, and begins to type something into it. "Yes, I do believe a fast track would work for Miss... Hazel Mir Kaur, yes that will be her name," she says, "Tell her next time that we've found some genetic relative in some far off colony in the area we found her shuttle at, and that we were able to get her name." The Doctor merely rights things down in his notes, and prepares to shake the woman's hands.

"I thank you, Miss Black, for allowing me to study such a unique specimen," he says turning to watch the girl, as she tosses a pillow into the air and catches it, "Who would have thought such a girl could have been dumped into our laps, in Tholian territory no doubt!" He loses interest,a nd turns back to the woman next to him. "Tell me again, how did you manage to change her skin tone and hair color?" he asks, "She has had flashes of memory where she remembers a paler skin tone and orange hair."

"We didn't, Doctor Geiger, you see that woman was found floating adrift by one of our covert stealth teams," she replies, "Her energy levels were in constant flux, quite literally she had chroniton energy arcing across her body causing her vitals to be constantly changing; the ships doctor had thought she had lost her once or twice, before her appearance settled into the one you see before her, a girl of nineteen, with blonde hair."

"Amazing, some odd mix of the two energies working together, combined with whatever brought her here?" he ponders, "The mere advances in scinece we could learn from ehr condition alone..."

"Correct, Mr. Geiger, but know that if you ever try to publish your studies over these past few weeks..." the remaining goes unsaid, and he immediately understands her point, "Besides, we had to mask most of her genetics, to allow her to pass as human without appearing to unusual, but mostly she is in control unlike other case studies have ever suggested."

"Of course not, Director Black, who would believe me anyways, considering last we heard Khan and his ilk were currently stranded on a planet in the... what system was it?" he asks her, but receives no response, "Right, right, confidential information, but nothing like having an Augmented Human under our- your command, of course."

"Of course, Mr. Geiger," she replies, "But I think she was already on our side." Thumbing a small pin in her hand, Director Black looks to the simple combadge. The shiny Delta had recently been polished, but was unmistakably Starfleet in design, and Director Black merely smiled.


End file.
